


Forget the Day After Tomorrow

by jaeandnight



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Oneshot, but i guess it's not the sad as in sad, i just miss jaepil that's why, jaepil, lots of sad songs before the output is made, obviously this is a sad love story :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:20:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26605105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaeandnight/pseuds/jaeandnight
Summary: A story of love on the other side of the coin, beyond flames and butterflies, where Jae decides to let go and finally move forward alone but Wonpil wishes for another day to be with him.
Relationships: Kim Wonpil/Park Jaehyung | Jae
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Forget the Day After Tomorrow

From a near distance, Wonpil caught a glimpse of the monotonous sky. The drops of rain alight nimbly on his window’s glasses, the weather seemed to match the mood he was feeling.

He sat on his bed, back pressed on the headboard and knees sheltered in his arms. He peeped on his phone with wishful thoughts for a text message he has been waiting all-day long.

But there was none.

There were couple of messages but not even one from the person he was so excited to receive it from.

“Time surely ticks slowly when you are waiting for something without the certainty of it coming...” He told himself as he plops back on his soft sheets, embracing the life-size teddy bear Jae gave him last Christmas. Then he fell asleep.

Finally, after hours of waiting, he woke up to his phone buzzing. The screen lit up the dark room he was confining himself in. It was Jae.

“ _Wonpil, can we talk?_ ”

Not _babe_ , no signs of anything that would have at least make him hopeful, just Wonpil. He felt his heart race strangely a little more rapid than usual.

Right then, he already knew what was ahead of him— what was ahead of _them_. Also right then, he felt afraid.

He spent good two minutes staring at the message, going back and forth, erasing and typing, until he finally settled with a reply that he felt was just right.

“ _Okay. Come quickly_.”

The clamor of an overthinking mind started to cause the hazy blur of his vision and he was quick to blame the weather for the surge of sadness that walloped him.

“I must be feeling a little more sentimental today because of the rain.” That was how he reassured himself.

His sixth sense had been telling him to expect for the worst but he also keeps on making up every excuse there is to defy such thought.

* * *

Jae arrived just half an hour before midnight, and Wonpil welcomed him at the doorstep. The older was wearing the black fleece jacket Wonpil had given him as a present on his recent birthday.

“Babe…”

Wonpil finally hears it. But it sounded different, perhaps it was sadder than usual.

“Have you eaten?” Wonpil asked to which Jae responded a slight nod.

Wonpil tried to flash a smile, but his eyes reflect so much fear.

“Hmm... Okay. I guess we’ll have to talk now.”

They headed towards the couch, where they usually cuddle, but now, leaving at least five inches of space in between, they sat side by side. Wonpil was cautious and conscious enough not to have any contact.

“Come closer.”

Jae gingerly instructed the younger, making him more nervous than he actually is. But he followed anyway.

“Wonpil... Let’s end this.”

These were the last words Wonpil wanted to hear from Jae, but also the same set of words he had been trying to register in his head in the past few days. He knew all along that he’d hear it once so he was kind of expecting it to come for a while now.

But no matter how much you prepare yourself for all the negative possibilities, you will never be ready. It will hurt just the same. Just like now.

“We have been like this for months now. We have always been trying to work on things but things always don’t go our way. It’s getting… It’s… All of this…”

Jae let out a sigh when he met Wonpil’s eyes— they look helpless, pleading, and unbearably painful.

He could not bring himself to say it.

Cold silence darted from the empty space distancing them. There was a complete absence of sounds from everything around, including their voices, but it was not quiet at all. The echoes of the thoughts lingering in Wonpil’s mind were madly deafening.

When he mastered enough courage and strength to say the words they both have long tried to repress, he turned to look at Jae with those sorrowful eyes.

“Are you tired?” He mumbled beneath his breath, almost too soft that it was barely audible.

For a long minute, there was no response.

Jae shifted his gaze, he could not look at Wonpil’s eyes. Wonpil knew. He always knew. The thought of this day coming had been very scary for him and now that it is actually happening, he just feels more helpless.

“Jae…”

“Hmm?”

“Jae…”

“Why?”

“I just want to call your name.”

 _Before I no longer can._ Wonpil thought to himself.

“Wonpil…”

“Before this ends, can I have one request?”

“Okay. Tell me.”

“Can we just forget the day after tomorrow and pretend that everything’s okay? Can you stay with me just for a day?” Wonpil has nothing left to lose, even his pride.

He tried to peruse Jae’s expression but he cannot read him anymore.

“After that, I’ll let you go. I promise.” And he’s begging. For one more day.

“Are you not even going to ask me why?” 

“Why would I even ask the obvious?” Wonpil scoffed a little, a forced chuckle followed.

“It might have been easier if you’d just curse me out, hate me, scream at me, or slap me. You being so composed makes it even harder to end this.” Jae let out another sigh, he’s been doing one after the other. Then he lowered his head. Wonpil assumed this was just as difficult to him.

“Jae, being the one initiating the break up does not free you from the guilt and the heartbreak. I know you have thought of this very well before finally coming to this decision. I know you, I know how you weigh things. And I trust you. You also know that I cannot do this on my own so you had to. I already saw this coming, though not this soon.”

Wonpil’s voice cracks in between the lines, but he was not crying. He was trying not to.

“Okay. Just one day, let’s forget the day after tomorrow.”

Jae finally smiles. And so does Wonpil.

* * *

For long hours, they drove astray under the starless sky, letting the four-wheels take them to wherever. Neither of them has dared to break the silence, but it was the kind of silence that was neither deafening or uncomfortable. It was just right— it both made them feel safe.

Wonpil, from the passenger seat, stares at Jae, trailing every feature that God seemed to have worked so artistically on. _Beautiful_.

Every part of him hold memorable narratives that Wonpil would always remember: Jae’s chinky eyes and the way they twinkle whenever he’d win a Valorant game, his cute nose and the way it scrunches whenever he’d pout over his fried computer, his grumpy cheeks and the way they giddy up whenever he’d get excited upon seeing stray cats, and his mouth and the way it casually forms a smile whenever he’d say the lamest joke— which Wonpil would also find funny because it’s Jae.

Wonpil fell not with those thick lips but how Jae would plant kisses on his forehead whenever they’d give each other a parting hug. He fell not with those playful hands but the way they caress his and make him feel safe and sound.

It wasn’t just about the visible Jae but the little sweet actions that he does. The simple intricate details about him that others don’t normally notice, but he does— these he will surely miss most.

“Where are we going?” Wonpil finally says something when he realized how far they have come.

Jae looked at him and smiled, “To where it all started.”

* * *

Wonpil woke up to the ray of sunlight, passing through the car’s windshield, striking his face.

“Oh, you’re awake.” Jae’s smile was the first thing he saw upon opening his eyes, just like how he had always imagined mornings to be.

“How long have I been asleep? Why didn’t you wake me up?” Wonpil cutely hissed.

“Hmm, five hours? I didn’t want to interrupt your sleep; you were sleeping soundly.” Jae flashed a sheepish smile, just like the old times, like how he always does.

Wonpil fumbled for his phone, it says 9:08 am. He has less than 15 hours before 12 am and now he’s regretting the five hours he wasted in sleeping.

“Where are we?”

“Don’t you remember? This is where we first met.”

Wonpil wandered his eyes and examined the place, still half-asleep. Then he knew. Of course, how could he forget the beautiful shoreline, the nostalgic sound of waves, the fine-grained white sand— the very place where he stumbled upon a boy by the campfire singing FM static’s _Tonight_ while strumming his brown guitar.

“Let’s grab something to eat?”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

* * *

They ordered gigantic lobsters set for two, the usual. And two large taro bubble tea. It was too early for such a heavy meal but nothing is too early for two people who are running away from time and chasing after it all at once. Or was it just Wonpil?

Wonpil peacefully watched Jae devour the last piece of lobster on his plate, he always loved the sight of seeing Jae eating to his heart’s content.

“I might melt.” Jae said, causing Wonpil to be taken aback. That was when he realized that he has been staring for a while already.

“Do you want to know a little secret I have always kept?” Wonpil was quick to divert the topic to hide his embarrassment.

“Tell me.”

“I never liked the taste of lobsters.”

“What????” Jae’s eyes widened at the younger’s statement.

It was then when it occurred to Jae all the times Wonpil would give him his leftovers because he is already “full”. It was because Jae loved lobsters so much and it makes Wonpil happy enough to see him enjoy his food.

“I didn’t notice that all along.”

“I guess you weren’t paying attention to me all along.” Wonpil said it in such an emotionless way that left a strong impression to Jae. “I’m kidding, okay?” He added when he saw how the older froze on his seat.

* * *

Wonpil follows the footprints Jae leaves on the sand. In every step, he wishes for time to flex so he could be with him a little longer. But every step also equates to every second he was losing.

“Jae!” The owner of the name immediately looked back, there was Wonpil six footprints away, smiling.

“Don’t you think you’re walking too fast?”

“Ah, sorry. Am I?”

“It’s okay. Our paces are just different. You are always ahead of me in everything.”

“I’ll wait for you. Come quickly.”

 _He won’t._ “Okay.” Wonpil replied.

They sat side by side on the refined sand, allowed the sea breeze to touch their skin, and reminisced almost every memory they had in the same familiar place. For hours, they remained like that, laughing while remembering and reliving every little moment they shared in five years. In their own little world. As if no partition awaits.

* * *

The time flew idly by, and the sun was almost setting. The orange sky, the billows adamantly resting on the shore, the redolence of the sea air, and two lost souls waiting for their time— just all the elements seem too perfect for a scene of goodbyes.

“Wonpil, come with me. I’ll take you somewhere.”

Jae extended his hands towards the direction of the younger, and Wonpil shot him a confused look. Jae stretched his arms a little nearer, just enough for Wonpil to reach. Wonpil smiled and took his hand, a little loose but enough grip to feel the warmth of Jae’s palms pressed against his.

Wonpil was so mesmerized when they arrived to the place, he did not let go of Jae’s hand still.

“Wow. This place is beautiful.” Wonpil whispered in awe, while his eyes are lost in the beauty of the scenic shoreline below them.

They stand on an octagonal concrete of a towering height engulfed in a stone railing. The view is magnificent, beyond words even. Wonpil felt like he was flying in a still motion, somewhere at least four meters above the ground, while Jae was silently admiring the beautiful sight of an excited Wonpil from the sidelines.

“You love it?”

“I do!” Wonpil exclaimed. “Why didn’t I know of this place before?” He added.

“I also discovered this just today, while you were sleeping. It is kind of far from where we usually stay. But I think we were really meant to see this of all days today.”

“You’re right.”

“Wonpil, do you know why lighthouses are built?”

“Well, aren’t they built as coastal aesthetic decoration? Tell me more about it. Educate me.”

“Well, they are not trying to be beautiful though they appear very picturesque to us. But their purpose sure is beautiful, they emit light to lead seafarers and warn them of potential dangers while they keep their ships afloat in the middle of the waters.”

“That’s nice. To serve a purpose and be beautiful at the same time.”

“Many years ago, people used to light a bonfire just so those who are sailing know where the waves end and where exactly they will land. But now, lighthouses are used to guide them home. Isn’t that very beautiful?”

“It is.” Wonpil, bearing such knowledge, ever more admired the place.

The timing was just so perfect to discover such fascinating daymark in a faraway place that epitomizes a story of hope, home, loneliness, and selflessness at a time when Wonpil is in the brink of roving astray.

“When you can’t see any colors and patterns, you see light. Wonpil, when this day ends, when you encounter nights when the waves are exceptionally terrifying, please promise me that you will continue to sail forward to where the light is.”

“I promise, Jae.”

It was the last pact they made before the sunset at the peak of the lighthouse.

* * *

The drive home was much more comfortable and smooth than the ride going to the seas, it almost felt reassuring. Wonpil no longer bear any regrets because he knew that they had seized the last day. But he was not immune to sadness— if goodbyes are certain, so is the aftermath of it.

They arrived three minutes before midnight in front of Wonpil’s apartment.

“It’s really sad how all good things always come to an end, right?” Wonpil said, minutes before he finally let go.

“Do you still think what we had was a good thing even though it ends just like this?” Jae asked, his eyes spark curiosity, his voice too soft, raspy— and sad.

“Of course! It might have been sloppy and the partition will certainly make me sad once all of this finally sinks in later but the journey was for sure worth it.”

“You’re right. You know, sometimes, I really wish I had your optimism.”

“I am very devastated right now, Jae. You probably just can’t see because I’m smiling but I’m dying inside.”

“I’m sorry, Wonpil.”

“You don’t have to. I think I have depended my happiness to you so much to the point that I do not know how to be happy by myself anymore,” Wonpil started. “You should’ve been who I should share my joys with and not someone who is responsible to provide me with such.”

“I love you, Jae. So much that it hurts.”

“I—”

“You do not have to say it back.”

“I am thankful, Wonpil. You will always be a part of my life. If I were to live again in another lifetime, I would still choose to be with you.”

“Even though it ends, too?”

“Even though it ends.”

They always told us about the beautiful feeling of beginnings, but not when it ends.

Not when you have to deal with the midnight blues, the tears drenching your favorite pillow, and all the sad songs that seem to rhyme. Not when the heartbreak starts crawling onto your bed at night, and then you start wishing to just feel nothing at all instead of hurting so much.

Not as you watch and feel his love gradually fade while yours remain strong and undying.

But at least, for Wonpil, it was a love that’s worth the pain. Because at the middle of their beginning and end, there were lots of genuine joys. Those five years made him very happy— it’s just that it lasted.

**Author's Note:**

> if you've reached this point, thank you for for reading uwu you are very much appreciated! in unison, we say, "sail, jaepil, sail".


End file.
